By My Side
by Giada Luna
Summary: A conversation between Gajeel and Levy on the eve of the Isghar invasion. Oneshot set during Fairy Tail manga 453. Gajevy/GaLe. Mentions of Gray/Juvia, Erza/Jelall


_I had a fic outlined after the Alvarez arc that was going to follow Gray's Alvarez infiltration, and Gajeel's time with the council, operating on the premise they were both working with Erza and trying to protect the blue-haired ladies in their lives. And then real life. I had this scene with Levy and Gajeel in my folder, and decided to rework it into a oneshot and leave it there. I came late to the fandom, but enjoyed my time!_

 _During Fairy Tail manga 453: what happened the night they evacuated magnolia/were waiting to strike against Ishgar_

* * *

 **By My Side**

* * *

Levy was deep into her reading and research, when the shadow fell over her work.

"That's enough for tonight, Shrimp," the familiar voice pierced the fog of her concentration. "It's getting too late for little girls to be up reading scary stories."

"Just a minute," she kept her eyes on her work, "I need to finish copying this. Can you shift to the left? You're in my light."

The shadow shifted.

"The other left."

He made a tch of annoyance, but moved.

"There," she dragged her eyes up to find him leaning against the wall, arms crossed. "That should do it."

"Whadd're you working on," he jerked his chin to the multiple open books and scrolls and maps and notes. "Looks like Council work."

"I might have, um, _borrowed_ a few documents during my time with the Council, as a precaution," she carefully marked her place in her book and tucked it away, along with her glasses and notes. "With everything that the Master told us, I'm glad I did. And what about you?" she took a stack of books to the shelves. "Have you been waiting this whole time?"

"Some of it. Rest of the time I was doing some things for the Master."

She eyed the gap in the shelf above her. "Did the evacuation go well?"

"The people cooperated, if that is what you mean."

"Magnolia has seen its fair share of trouble... but nothing like this," she put the edge of the book on the shelf, and went on tip-toe to push it in "An evacuation? A pending invasion? It's enough to make anyone worry -"

She winced when the book started to slip from her fingers, but when she backed up to dodge it, she got no farther than the solid wall of person behind her. She looked up to see Gajeel easily push the book in place.

"If you need help, just ask for it," he muttered, stepping back.

She turned and gave him a fond smile.

"Thanks."

She filled her bag, and did a quick walk around the room to make sure she hadn't left anything out of place.

It was a comforting ritual, and she tried not to let her mind shift to how futile it might be if tomorrow Magnolia was invaded, and -

"Lev? You okay?"

Gajeel was there, her bag already slung over his shoulder as if it weighed less than nothing.

"Y-yeah. Was just trying to remember something. It wasn't important."

Gajeel didn't ask her anything else, settling for nodding toward the door.

"Then let's get home."

She locked the door (just as she promised the librarian she would) and slipped the old key into her pocket - the weight of it against her leg a familiar, reassuring sort of thing.

She tried not to be disturbed by the abandoned houses, their windows dark - or in the case of more cautious owners, boarded over.

The usual din of the streets of Magnolia had dulled to a subdued hum.

It was the lack of noise that made her look up and check where they were - leading her to notice that they were not headed toward her place. They weren't headed to his place, either.

"Where are we going?"

"You didn't eat yet."

"Well, no," she scratched her cheek. "I sort of got caught up in my work."

"Then you don't need to ask where we're going," he said flatly.

Levy puffed her cheeks out and exhaled.

"Well, you don't have to be a jerk about it," she muttered.

Gajeel made no comment. His long strides carried him into the small, brightly lit square, and to one of the vendors.

"We're on our way out for the evacuation," the man said, eyes darting between Gajeel and Levy. "We just wanted to make sure that people got food as they left town."

"S'alright," Gajeel interrupted him, pulling money out of his pocket. "The Master told us a few of you would be doing that. 'Bout time to pack it in, though."

"You'll be my last customer," the man promised. "What'll you have?"

Gajeel placed an order, and then looked over to Levy.

"Food's not getting any fresher, Shrimp."

She hastily placed an order, and dug in her pocket for her money.

"Save it," Gajeel said, gathering up their bags. "I already paid."

"Oh…um… thanks," she said, watching as he gathered their food, her bag still slung on his shoulder.

"Yeah, well, since we evacuated the city, there isn't anywhere else to get a meal tonight," he took off at a brisk pace that had Levy moving quickly to keep up.

"I had something back at the dorm," she said, defensively. "Or did you honestly think I wouldn't be prepared?"

"You're not going back there," he informed her. "We've got business to take care of."

"Business?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "Did something come up?"

"Yeah," he muttered, flicking a dark glance upward. "Something."

She followed him, her mind flipping through a catalog of potential issues. 'Something' covered a lot of ground in their world.

She almost ran into his back when he stopped at the door to unlock it.

"Sorry," she flushed.

Pantherlilly flew out to meet them.

"Hey, Lil," Gajeel nodded. "Got everything ready?"

"Yes," he nodded solemnly. "Good to see you," he smiled gently at Levy.

"You, too," Levy gave a small wave.

Gajeel moved quickly up the stairs, and she scurried after his stomping gait.

Gajeel and Pantherlilly put the food out, leaving Levy to hang up her coat and wash her hands.

"Is that my bag?" she noticed the duffel sitting in a chair.

"I asked Carla to pack a bag for you," Lily admitted. "I figured you'd be cutting it close to curfew."

"They could've set the library on fire, and we still wouldn't have been here any sooner," Gajeel snorted, ignored by both Lily and Levy

"Any luck with those maps you were telling me about?" Lily put food at her seat - or at least he put the food he was fairly certain was hers in front of the chair where she usually sat.

"I think so," Levy pulled out three forks, spoons, and knives. "I've been going over all of the information I could find on Ishgar – especially about the Spriggan Twelve."

Gajeel shrugged.

"How tough can they be, if there needs to be twelve of 'em?"

"A better way to phrase that is how tough must they be if there are _only_ twelve of them," she slid the silverware his way. "I heard a few things back at the council."

They talked about what they heard or hadn't heard until the food was gone, and everything was cleared away.

"Go clean up, Shrimp," Gajeel nodded to the single bathroom. "Time to pack it in for the night."

She disappeared with her things, and was about to get in the shower when she realized the door hadn't closed completely. Her hand was on the handle when she overheard Lily say:

"She doesn't know, does she?"

Levy grew still.

"Nope. And I'm gonna keep it that way."

"Is that fair?"

"What's the sense in telling her now? Been months since that all went down. And I don't know if Icicle told Juvia anything."

"Juvia," Levy murmured, her hand tightening on the doorknob, leaning closer to better. hear. "What about Juvia?"

"You know," Gajeel drawled. "Someone once said that if you eavesdrop, you got no one to blame if you hear something you don't like – " he yanked back to door with a wicked grin, and instantly went pale.

"Stupid Gajeel!" Levy screamed, quickly catching up a towel, while throwing his heavy hairbrush to thonk off of his forehead. "GET OUT!"

She shot forward and grabbed the door, slamming it closed, and locking it hastily. It took several great, heaving breaths before she managed to get in the shower. Embarrassment gave way to annoyance as she scrubbed at herself in frustration until her skin was pink from her efforts. She was still muttering to herself as she pulled on her night clothes and hung her towel to dry. When she opened the door, she peered out cautiously.

"He's not here," Lily offered. "Went to secure the roof."

"You mean he's hiding," she crossed her arms.

His shrug said it all.

"Stupid Gajeel," she yanked her bag shut and placed it where she could get it in the morning.

"He said to take the bed," he nodded to the lone bedroom. "He'll sleep on the couch."

"Fine. Tell him to come in whenever he gets back," she marched to the door. "I'm not sleeping until I have an explanation."

"I'll let him know."

Levy slammed the door for good measure.

"Idiot," she fumed, tears in the corners of her eyes. "This long and you still can't trust me?"

She curled up in the corner of the bed, deciding to read a little longer – to prepare a little more.

The groans and rattles of the old pipes alerted her that Gajeel must've come back in and was washing up.

She straightened her posture and kept an eye on the door – because if she heard him bypass the room, she was going to give him a piece of her mind.

There was a small knock, and the door inched open.

"Lev?"

"Might as well come in," she kept her eyes on her book. "Neither one of us is going to sleep until you tell me what you were talking about with Lily."

"Geez, Levy," he raked a hand down his face. "You sure this can't wait until morning?"

She glared at him.

"Okay, fine," he groaned. "Shove over."

"Wait, what? What are you -!"

"You might not need sleep before tomorrow, but I do," he retorted. "Master ran us ragged all day, and I'm exhausted."

She felt the mattress dip under his weight as he laid back and put his arms behind his head. "Okay, Shorty," he crossed his ankles with a sigh. "Let me have it."

"Don't tempt me," she weighted the heavy book in her hand, deciding to put it on the table by the bed. "So? What were you talking about. And what does Juvia have to do with anything?"

"It's kinda a long story," he scratched his cheek. "But I'll give you the shorter version. I was doing some work for the Council, and I had to go out to Old Porlyusica's place. That's where I ran into Gray. Turns out he'd been sneaking off to talk to the old woman about controlling the Demon Slayer magic and the black marks it made on his body. He didn't stay long – Juvia was waiting for him. Said I'd see him the next day."

"And?"

"And I saw him the next day. Erza, too. That's when she told us about Alvarez, and recruited Gray to infiltrate."

"You knew about that?" Levy's mouth dropped open in shock.

"Yeah," he grimaced. "I knew."

"And none of you never thought to warn Juvia?" Levy's eyes widened like saucers. "At least mention to her that Gray might be gone for a couple of months on a mission?"

"It was never supposed to be anywhere near that long," Gajeel stared at the ceiling. "Erza had a way to get Gray into the upper levels of the organization, but if it was going to work, he had to leave right then, and I had to haul ass back to the council to make sure no one got in his way. That's when Lily and I warned her about the council's plan to infiltrate. I knew they'd send you - you were the only one smart enough to carry it off."

"Gray knew I was infiltrating before I got there?" she asked, squelching her small swell of satisfaction at his unintentional compliment.

"Yeah."

"And…and Juvia?"

Gajeel glared at the ceiling. "Gray and me wanted to tell her something - anything! - but in the end it was too dangerous."

"Dangerous?" Levy's voice was incredulity tinged with scorn. "If anything, Juvia knows more about working inside of an organization like that than anyone but you! She was an elite with Phantom Lord, wasn't she? If anyone could've infiltrated, it probably should've been her or you!"

"And that's why Gray insisted on going."

"...What?"

"Think about it, Lev. If Juvia knew where Gray was - that he was going into danger like that, there wasn't anything that would've kept her away. Especially if she heard that his heart had turned. With you there, that put two of our own on the inside. Blowing his cover could be a risk to you as well - everything could've gone down in flames."

"So... you told her nothing?"

Gajeel didn't bother to answer.

"That was cruel," Levy's eyes watered angrily. "She was abandoned, alone, and heartbroken. How could you do that to her? I thought you were her friend."

"It was the only way to keep you both safe!" he retorted.

"Six months, Gajeel!"

They locked eyes and finally, he dropped his gaze.

"Juvia could've handled the mission. Gray couldn't have handled letting her go alone."

Levy was stunned into silence.

"Jellal originally wanted me or Juvia. I was already working with the council. When Gray heard the details..."

"He went so she didn't have to..." Levy finished for him, her eyes wide. "But why not bring her to us at the council - or put her in touch with somebody?"

"He was never supposed to be gone for so long," he grimaced. "But then it was just one more day, and then one more day, and suddenly it was six months, and Juvia was alone and back to being the Rain Woman, and you were just about to get back from your mission. If Flame Brain and Bunny Girl hadn't gotten to her first, I was going to go get Juvia as soon as you were safe – mission be damned – and make sure the two of you knew what was going on."

He raised weary eyes to her, shrugging heavily.

"It was all sorts of fucked-up, Levy – I'm not even going to try and make up for that – but it was all we had. It was all we knew. And besides – do you really think I would've let you go on that mission alone? Do you think I would've risked losing the one good thing I've got – the only thing that keeps me from being what I once was?"

"Gajeel..."

"We couldn't have known, Levy. The guild was gone, the Master was in Ishgal, and it was all we could do to get a handle on the situation. When Erza and Jellal came through – that's all we had to go on. We did what we could to protect our family. To protect Fairy Tail."

This time, she dropped her gaze with a small nod.

"I'm sorry, Levy," he slid fingers over hers, and tangled them together. "I should've told you sooner – and probably not the night before a war, but…" he trailed off.

"It…it's okay," a tear slipped off of her cheek.

"It's late," he thumbed away what was left of her tears. "Get some rest."

He started to back away – to stand up to return to the couch.

"Stay," she whispered. "I don't…I don't know the next time we'll get this. To be safe. To be together. Just….Just stay."

His smirk was small.

"This mean I'm forgiven?"

"It means when you don't know how much time you have, it's stupid to waste it disagreeing."

"Alright, Squirt," he slid under the covers. "C'mere."

He pulled her to his side, and she snuggled into him greedily.

"I'm sorry, Levy," he held her tightly, making sure his covers were tucked around her.

"It's alright," she said sleepily. "You're by my side now. Just stay here, okay?"

She drifted to sleep, and he pressed a kiss to the top off her head.

"Nowhere I'd rather be."

* * *

 _And that's my headcanon for why they woke up in issue 453 with the same sheets :)_

 _Cheers!_


End file.
